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ST JOHN’S, Antigua -- President of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), Dr Julian Hunte, in congratulating the West Indies team on their thumping Test victory over New Zealand, said that the win is a significant marker along the development path.

“This outstanding victory is another significant marker along the road of the redevelopment of West Indies cricket,” said Hunte of the nine-wicket win at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Grounds in Antigua.

“I wish to offer the Board’s sincerest congratulations to Darren Sammy and the entire team along with Ottis Gibson and the entire coaching staff,” he said.

“While, as Coach Gibson observed, the victory was a total team effort I must make specific mention of the Digicel Man-of-the-Match Sunil Narine for his excellent bowling, Kieran Powell for his maiden Test century, Chris Gayle for an outstanding hundred and Kemar Roach for his second innings five wicket haul.

“The entire West Indies cricketing family stands together in saluting the team for what was an admittedly rare victory but one which we hope is the first of many more to come as the team continues along the path of resurgence and development.

“I wish to especially note that Powell is a graduate of the Sagicor High Performance Centre and he himself has lauded the work of the HPC programme in developing his batting and all round cricket to the point where he was able to achieve his maiden Test hundred.

“We are very pleased with the HPC programme and we are certain that we will see other graduates of the programme emerge in the coming seasons as well,” said Hunte, who is in his third term as president of the WICB.

“We will continue to strengthen the programme and invest not only in the Sagicor HPC but in the many other areas of development to ensure that our cricketers are prepared for the intensity of action and the immense challenges of international cricket,” he added.

West Indies and New Zealand play the second and final Digicel Test at Sabina Park in Jamaica from August 2 to 6. This match will bring a close to the international season of cricket in the Caribbean for 2012. West Indies is slated to host Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in the 2013 season.

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